5 Tools for picking a domain name
Picking your site name is one of the first steps in your blogging journey and it can be a frustrating process to come up with the right name. I use several tools to help me with this process. Below are my experiences with five tools that I use often to pick domain names. As you go thru this process, remember to read my post about the five don’ts of picking a domain name.
PickyDomains.com — PickyDomains employs actual people who suggest names for your domain. The process begins by registering with the service, providing a description of your site, keywords and your preferences. Once your account is setup, they start suggesting names and you either flag them as “Like” or “Dislike”. As soon as you find a name you want, you “pick” the name and register it. The service costs $50.00 per domain name and you are charged only if you register a domain. My experience has been spotty. They certainly can come up with great names, but there is no consistency in the quality of names. But since you are not charged if you don’t register the name, it does not hurt to try. The good thing about using this service is that it makes you think hard about what your site should be about.
Thesaurus.com: This is probably one of the more useful ways to pick a name. I usually start by jotting down a few key words, and start entering them into the thesaurus. The thesaurus kind of helps you to think about your name from different angles because of the various synonyms it suggests. Unlike Microsoft Word, thesaurus.com suggest synonyms that are similar in meaning but are divergent enough to make you think - its a great brainstorming tool.
Web 2.0 Name Generator: This is a fun and easy website to use, especially if you just want a cool sounding name for your soon to be media empire. Simply go to the site and click on “Generate Name” and the site generates cool names.
Nameboy Name Generator: This site allows you to enter two keywords and then generates names using your input. Nameboy’s naming engine is not very sophisticated, but it is useful nonetheless.
Ajaxwhois.com: This is not a name generation site, but it has the coolest whois lookup engine and the site is fun and easy to use. I use this site often to brainstorm for other online money making ideas.
Thanks for the site links. I found this to be very helpful in a search for a name for a new site.
Check out http://www.namecombo.com It’s a really cool domain name generator and company name generator similar to Dotomator but with more word lists and the ability to create domain names with 1-4 words. You can find available domain names from a huge selection of word lists. You can customize lists with your own words which lets you come up with literally thousands of possible domain names incorporating your keywords if you wish. It offers bulk domain name lookup and domain registration. There is also both a three word version and four word version which are great for keyword driven domain name variations.